working visit Oslo - roots.utopia.sk

You can also speak Romani in Oslo

Working visit to Norwegian partners

In April 2024, representatives of the Union of Roma Maternity Centres and the Utopia Association jointly embarked on a working trip to Oslo, the capital of Norway. The main aim of the visit was to exchange experiences with our Norwegian partners Selvhjelp for Innvandrere og Flyktninger/Self Help for Migrants and Refugees (SEIF). We were very curious, as SEIF in Oslo also works with the local Roma community and the organisation itself is currently even run by a Roma woman. We met in the centre of Oslo, in their office. Immediately it became clear that the Roma activists from ÚRMC and SEIF could easily get along in Romani, and much of the language barrier problem suddenly disappeared (as not all of the participating activists speak English). At the beginning we introduced all the organisations to each other. Then the representatives of the URMC talked about all the activities they had organized within the project "Emancipated Roma Women Fight Discrimination". After the presentation, a long and very stimulating discussion started about the situation of excluded communities in Norway and Slovakia, about community work and finally about the possibilities of future cooperation.

Slovenčina

During the next day we visited the Romano kher community centre , where a large part of the cultural activities of the local Roma community take place. The staff of the centre showed us around the building and told us about the activities they organise. Activists from the ÚRMC presented their work and a discussion followed about the problems, discrimination and social exclusion. And since it was the International Roma Day, we were invited to celebrate it at the centre in the evening.

In the following days, the representatives of the ÚRMC had several more meetings with Roma activists and academics from Oslo. We gained a lot of interesting suggestions and information and so did our partners from Norway. We said goodbye to each other and said that we will definitely meet again in the future and we will continue to exchange experiences.

Translated by deepl.com. Not edited.